The sky of the southern hemisphere was very unlike that of the northern. One of the most striking sights was the constellation of the Cross, commonly known by mariners as the Southern Cross, composed of four brilliant stars. The three brightest stars in the heavens, Sirius, Canopus, Centaur, filled a part of the heavens with their light.
Mars, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter were looking upon me. That part of the Milky Way between the stars Sirius and Centaur was so rich in stars and crowded nebulæ that it seemed a perfect blaze of light.
There were the Magellanic clouds, white-looking patches, made up of countless stars unseen to the eye, and nebulæ,—stars in formation,—shining brilliantly and revolving round the starless South Pole.
Then, looking northward, I saw the constellation of the Great Bear, which reaches its meridian altitude at about the same time as the constellations of the Cross and of the Centaur.
I gazed upon the heavens almost all of the night. I was perfectly oblivious of everything else. Stars appeared and disappeared. They were like a succession of guests coming and going.
At last I said good-night to the stars, and pulling my old panama hat over my head, to protect my eyes from the rays of the moon, I soon fell asleep on the sand, under the blue heavens and the stars twinkling over me. I dreamt of friends, of boys and girls at home, of the North Star, of snow, of strawberries, peaches, and jam. I was suddenly awakened by the sharp barking of Andekko. It was broad daylight. Rogala was cooking turtle's eggs. Ndova was looking at me. All the stars had disappeared, and the sun had risen to give life and food to the sons of men, for without the sun there would be no life, no vegetation upon the earth. I spent the day quietly, waiting impatiently for the night to take astronomical observations.
After sunset I said to Rogala: "Bring me the 'precious box.'" After he had laid it at my feet I opened it.
Rogala stood up close to me, looking on with mingled feelings of curiosity and fear. First, I took from the box two sextants—one was to determine the altitude of the stars, planets, and moon; the other the distance between them from east to west, or vice versa. Then I took out a trough, which I filled up with quicksilver to be used as an artificial horizon, on which the stars were to be reflected.
From a little copper-screwed water-tight box I took two watches out of four which all marked the seconds, a bull's-eye lantern, and other objects that excited the wonder of Rogala. Before taking the observations, I thought I would have some fun with Rogala. I placed my telescope in position for Jupiter and said to him: "In the land of the Oguizi this star is called Jupiter. Do you see little stars round it?" I meant the satellites.
